The fall of the discount broker..
As if we all didn’t see this coming. Discount brokers are hitting hard times in the market and Foxtons out of New Jersey has stated that it might be headed for bankruptcy. Foxton’s announced that they will be laying off approximately ALL of their staff. I wonder if I can buy one of those cool minicoopers at a good price?
Discount brokers can only thrive in a market that is hot and where the liquidity of real estate is fast paced. The problem is that real estate is NOT a liquid asset, except in a boom such as the one we just had.
The reason owners pay a 6% Realtor commission is because in traditional markets, you need a professional to help sell your house. They have an in, they know of people looking to move in to the area, this is what you are paying for.
Although I know we all have mixed feelings on Realtors, I can assure you that the value of a good Realtor is becoming more important than ever.
Tags: Did you know?, Mortgage Companies
If I had to guess, I would say that 40% of the phone calls we get here at Sheriff Sales Online are about the quality and timeliness of our information. We have even received calls that just wanted to see if we would pick up the phone. “I just wanted to see if someone would actually answer?” they say. The funny thing is that I can’t blame them. I have also been ripped off by many foreclosure/real estate services in the past claiming that they had the info with special bells and whistles to boot, but after signing up I realized they just had all the bells and whistles integrated with their crappy information. I’m sure most of you have experienced similar results from web services you may have purchased in the past and I hate to say it, but the foreclosure web site business has a bad rap. There are lots of sexy and super hi-tech foreclosure sites out there, so you have to be careful. I have seen quality hi-tech foreclosure sites with crappy information and the most basic crappy looking site that had the best and most current info. Real Estate is behind the times with technology and is still making its climb up the internet ladder.
It is virtually impossible to cover every area in detail unless you have someone local to the area following it on a county level in most cases. Almost all nationwide foreclosure web sites have a heavy concentration with REO (Real Estate Owned) and Realtor® properties. Now I am not saying that these sites are not worth the money, I would just like to clear the air on how up to date and closely followed their information might be.
